'Da Vinci Outreach' Launched in Wake of Upcoming Film
With the upcoming Ron Howard/Tom Hanks motion picture The Da Vinci Code less than three months away from bringing what some have called a literary “assault on the person of Jesus Christ” to the big screen, a coalition of Catholic organizations has formed an online initiative called Da Vinci Outreach to help readers and moviegoers navigate through what they’ve referred to as a “web of bogus history and outright lies.”
The Da Vinci Outreach website offers a number of free resources including study guides and “action plans” designed to educate church members about the Da Vinci Code, as well as a link for purchasing The Da Vinci Deception - a 144 page Q & A book from Ascension Press that is being referred to as a “powerful antidote to the spiritual poison found in The Da Vinci Code.”
"A simple Google search would have revealed to Academy Award-Winning director Ron Howard the myriad of factual errors in The Da Vinci Code. For example, the Dead Sea Scrolls are identified in the novel as Jewish documents, not Christian, and Brown cites the Vatican eleven centuries before it even existed," said Matthew Pinto, president of Ascension Press, which is spearheading this outreach. "These examples merely scratch the surface. What it boils down to is that 30 million readers have been duped by a deceptively good piece of fiction. Da Vinci Outreach has been launched to counter these claims and provide Catholics with the resources they need to effectively defend Christ and the Catholic Church."
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"The Da Vinci Code is a frontal assault on Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church," continues Pinto. "DavinciOutreach.com, a Web site that offers resources, study guides, local speaker information, and other free materials, is the much-needed antidote to the spiritual and intellectual poison that permeates Dan Brown’s novel and that will undoubtedly be depicted in the forthcoming film."
In related news, Sony Pictures recently launched a site called www.thedavincichallenge.com, which is designed to prepare Christians for the “Da Vinci Dialogue” that will be surrounding the release of the upcoming film. The website contains a number of free resources including weblinks, news, and essays from prominent Christian figures such as Barna Group co-founder George Barna, screenwriter and Biola associate professor Craig Detweiler, and others.
